Cisco makes audits less onerous

Cisco is shifting its certification audits from every year to every three years, in a move that will reduce the onerous compliance process and should save its partners money.

The news was revealed during a wide-ranging presentation by Cisco's chief executive, John Chambers, and global channel chief Bruce Klein, during this week's Cisco Partner Summit in Montreal, Canada.

In a presentation that spanned everything from Cisco's push into software, to its predictions of a vast, $19 billion opportunity in the Internet of Things, to an increasing focus on security, the news of the change to the audits garnered perhaps the most positive reaction from the audience of more than 2,000 partners.

"You all talk about the audits, 'Oh, they take a lot of time, a lot of money and a lot of effort'. We are changing the audits from every one year to every three years. And that is not only in [the Cloud and Managed Services Program], that is across the board," said Klein.

All Gold and Master specialisations as well as Cloud and Managed Services Program (CMSP) partners face these regular audits. The move to three years is a response to feedback from partners, said Steve Benvenuto, senior director, business development, Cisco Channel Partner Program.

"When we talk to partners, they are very consistent in telling us that it should not be easy to become a Cisco partner; they actually value that is challenging to become a Cisco partner. They like that that because they don't want thousands of competitors all in the same place. But what they are telling us is, 'Once I am in the club, treat me like a member'," said Benvenuto.

The potential savings are significant. Cisco's audits are widely viewed as some of the most rigorous in the industry, requiring weeks of preparation as well as face-to-face and remote assessments. Audits can look at everything from ensuring certifications are up to date, to checking the process for selling and deploying technology, and more.

Kent MacDonald, VP of converged infrastructure at North American partner Long View, recently achieved Cisco's Gold hybrid IT certification and said his company "spent in excess of $100,000 preparing for that audit".

Graham Robinson, national Cisco practice manager for Brisbane-based Data#3, told CRN that he "almost stood up and cheered" at the news.

"I absolutely appreciate the intent of the audits and Cisco's desire to continually lift the bar in the channel through them, however, they require a significant investment in time from people throughout our organisation.

"Shifting from a one to a three-year audit cycle will remove considerable cost from our Cisco practice while removing administrative distractions that detract from our focus on our customers and their business objectives," added Robinson.

The change was just one announcement around Cisco's partner programs. The vendor is also launching a new software partner program, with three new roles: software consultant, software integrator and software lifecycle advisor.

The lifecycle advisor role is Cisco's way to combat the problem of 'shelfware', when customers pay for software licence then fail to consume some or all of the features - which makes it difficult for salespeople to convince them to renew their licence.

Cisco revealed that just 33 percent of its software licences are used, something it hopes to address with the new software program and more broadly with its major focus on software.

Steven Kiernan is a guest of Cisco in Montreal.